Audio: tinnitus silenced by new tone-matching treatment

Listen to an example of the new tinnitus treatment which causes the brain to
create "phantom" noises by playing matching tones over headphones.

Trials of the new therapy, called called Acoustic Coordinated Reset (ACR), have shown that it reduces the loudness and annoyance caused by tinnitus in seven out of 10 patients.

Researchers say a new trial comparing ACR against a sham treatment in 63 people with long-term tinnitus, provides hard evidence it works.

Volunteers were first asked to match their tinnitus tone to one of a range played to them.

Scientists have now found that playing sufferers the same tone which they "hear" in their mind stops auditory brain cells from creating the perceived noise.

This tone was then played to volunteers through in-ear headphones four to six hours a day, for 12 weeks. They were then taken off it for four weeks, before being put on it again for regular intervals for another 22 weeks.

At the end of the 40 week RESET trial, led by Professor Peter Tass at Jülich Research Centre in Germany, about seven in 10 who received active treatment said their tinnitus had got quieter and less annoying. On average, it halved the intensity of their symptoms.

The British Tinnitus Association said the results were "encouraging" but said a larger, independent trial was needed.

Up to 10 per cent of adults are thought to have tinnitus - the perception of ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears - to some extent, according to the BTA, although most only mildly. It is more common in the elderly.

To date the only treatments available have been those which mask symptoms, such as CDs of ocean waves, or psychological techniques to help people cope better.